Pilots of Berk
by Warrior of Spectra
Summary: In the year 230 NB the world has been flung into conflict. Henry Haddock III leads his elite squadron of pilots through high risk missions to protect their home island of Berk. But with the discovery of an ancient artifact that could spill disaster on the world, Henry and his squad are thrust into a race against time to save not only Berk, but the entire world.
1. Prologue:Nightmares of the Frozen Plains

**Prologue: Nightmares of the Frozen Plains.**

**A/N: This story is a futuristic AU several centuries before the events of How to Train Your Dragon the world had been forever changed by the arrival of two advanced armies that forever changed the history of Earth. The opening is inspired on the beginning of Dead Space 3's Prologue. **

_In the year 0 NB (New Birth), the world was changed forever. _

_With the arrival of two armies; The Order of Spectra and The Forsworn, two enemies who have been at war long before the birth of the first civilizations, Earth was changed. All cultures were affected by the arrival of the advanced armies._

_In 50 NB, the world had advanced faster than mankind had ever hopped. Before man had to travel by land and sea to reach their destination. But now, we travel through the air. Our technology has advanced farther than any would have hoped. _

_With the mineral ore Chrona, mankind has discovered a resource that can be easily created._

_With Chrona as our crucial energy source that powers our now growing cities, vehicles and Jets…mankind has reached a golden age._

_But with the coming of a golden age…we also brought in horrors we never anticipated._

_On the icy back water continent, a man discovers a deadly secret…that will change the future._

_…._

**_157 NB:_**

The snow storm was blinding, one could barely see his own nose in the heavy snow storm. Frostbite seemed to be the least of anyone's worries in this part of the world…the very northern center of the entire Earth.

For Henry Haddock however, his concerns were not about the Snow storm that surrounded him as he trudged through the frozen plains of the Arctic. The man wore a futuristic metallic armor that was silver in color with red markings across the body of the armor. The helmet completely covered the man's head, a glowing red visor was present on his helmet, allowing him to see through his helmet without having snowflakes fly into his eyes.

Wearing the Arctic Survival variant of the Neural Interface Armor, NIA for short, the man trudged through the blizzard, occasionally being knocked off balance from the heavy gusts of wind, with little discomfort due to the armor's heating systems.

Henry wielded a Tyger 32 Fury, a semi-automatic, yet powerful, pistol that could blow open a man's head with a single shot from it's Chrona bolt. But unfortunately for Henry…the weapon was empty…and he had no ammunition…

One more thing Henry regretted when he departed from his team's research camp.

It had been just a normal day for Henry Haddock the first…about five weeks ago he, his wife, Anna, and their Research Team had left their home island of Berk, the homeland of the Hooligan tribe before the era of New Birth began. The team's mission was to research the Frozen plains of the Northern Arctic pole, to find any information in regards of the disappearance of a race of creatures that were revered by both the people of The Forsworn Confederacy, and The Alliance: The Dragons.

About two years after The Order of Spectra and The Forsworn's appearance in the world and all cultures of Earth began to advance; the Dragons mysteriously vanished without a trace. In the years before the Forsworn and The Order's appearance, dragons were numerous in the Archipelago, found on almost every island that supported life.

When the dragons vanished without a trace, a stir of surprise spread across the world. When humanity had created their jets in the year of 88 NB, many people took to the skies in an attempt to find any clues as to why the dragons vanished, and where they had vanished to.

By the year 100 NB, humanity had given up on finding the dragons, and had gone about advancing their cultures and civilizations. But fifty five years later, the young aspiring leader of Berk, Henry Haddock, would continue the search his family had long since given up.

The thirty year old desired to find a way to return the dragons to the world. Along with ten companions, including his wife, the Research team set off on a two year mission to discover why the dragons had vanished. Their journey took them from the Archipelago, to the Forsworn Confederacy's territories, to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean…and now in the middle of the Frozen Plains.

During the first week after setting up their research camp, things were uneventful. The next week, the team had still found nothing and they were running low on rations. By week three, when the team was about to give up their search and return to Berk…that's when they found _it_…a Dragon Skeleton…and a large one, almost as large as a mountain. According to the data archives the teams had brought with them to help identify dragon remains…the skeleton was of a Red Death, one of the largest dragons in the world…and one of the most deadly.

With their hopes renewed, the team decided to remain on the Frozen Plains, hoping beyond hope that their goal was close at hand. Sure enough, the team found more and more skeletal remains of dragons. The team sent their results to Berk's main research facility, giving the scientists there constant updates on their discoveries.

But by the fifth week…that's when it happened.

One of the researchers on the team had committed suicide. No one knows why she had done it, Alice, the team's Anthropologist, had always been strong mentally, she had no mental break downs and in fact she was the one who insisted on remaining in the Frozen Plains while many of the others, including Henry, wanted to leave.

But Alice's death wasn't the last. The next day, another one of the team committed suicide. By now there was unrest among the team, and many wanted to leave the Frozen Plains.

When Henry and Anna were about to give the all clear to leave, their transport jet was sabotaged…they had no way of leaving the region.

That morning, the morning Henry left the camp to find a good signal strength to contact Berk for evacuation, was the morning things went to hell in only three minutes. While Henry had reached his destination safely and was able to come into contact with Berk's comm signal, Anna had contacted Henry, her tone desperate and filled with terror.

_"Henry! They're everywhere! Don't comeback! DON'T COMEBACK!" _

The comm signal went dead…something was happening at the research camp…

Ignoring his wife's warnings, Henry travelled back to the Research camp.

Now, ten minutes away from the research camp, Henry came to a stop. His helmet began to mechanically fold back, exposing his head, he felt the cold gusts of wind fly into his head, the cold feeling like tiny needles digging into his skin. He had pale skin, blue eyes and auburn colored hair that went passed his ears. Tapping his comm in his left ear, he tried to connect with his wife's comm signal.

"Anna!" Henry called out over the blizzard's powerful gusts of wind. "Anna! Please copy! ANNA!"

There was only static on the opposite end…but he finally got a reply.

"Henry…" Anna's voice replied on the opposite end of the channel, she was sobbing. "They're dead…they're all dead…"

"What's happening Anna?!" Henry asked.

"Everyone's dead Henry…they…they killed everyone…" Anna sobbed.

"Where are you Anna?!" Henry demanded.

He heard Anna's sobs grow quieter…whatever had happened, was too much for her.

"The Dropship…they're outside…"

"Just hang in their sweetie…I'm coming…" Henry tried to comfort his wife.

"We're all going to die…" Was Anna's last reply before the signal died.

"Anna? ANNA?!" Henry yelled…he took off his comm piece and threw it to the ground, knowing it was dead. "Damn it…"

With that, Henry's helmet mechanically folded over his head and clicked into place and quickly ran forward to the Research Camp's position.

Ten minutes later, he reached the Camp…only to find that it in ruins. The bunkers that had been set up as shelter for the team were in ruins…and all of Henry's team members were dead, every one of them a bloody mess as if a feral creature mauled them. Despite wanting to mourn for his dear friends…his main concern was his wife, who said she was in the Dropship located across the camp…

Henry trudged through the snow, reaching the sabotaged Dropship, a Thunderdrum-II, named after the famous Ocean class dragon. The Dropship could carry fifteen people inside and served mainly as a way to transport people rather than being used for combat.

As Henry approached the massive Dropship's rear door…he saw bloody claw marks on the door, the door completely ripped apart. Henry's eyes widened in horror as his helmet mechanically folded back.

"ANNA!" Henry yelled, climbing into the dropship, and running through the center of the Dropship, following a trail of blood to the cockpit.

As he approached the pilot seat, he spun it around…and saw his wife in the pilot's seat…dead.

A bloody hole in the center of her chest, her face scratched up. Henry's eyes watered as his legs trembled and he fell to his knees…resting his head in his dead wife's lap. Henry felt as if his heart had been ripped out of his chest…the love of his life was dead…

"Oh Anna…" Henry sobbed, his throat constricting…tears rolled down his cheeks as he mourned over his wife's corpse.

Slowly, he looked up at his dead wife's face, and gently stroked her brunette hair that was caked with blood. As he stood up to he placed both of his hands over both sides of his wife's face and bent his head down so his forehead touched her's.

As he mourned for his wife…a loud howling noise could be heard outside of the wrecked dropship. Henry looked up from his dead wife's face, outside of the cockpit's bullet proof window…and he felt all of blood drain from his face as he saw blood red dots glowing from the distance…and silhouettes began to appear through the snow storm.

Several howls soon followed after.

Despite the dread he felt, the dread and fear was replaced with anger. Slowly, Henry's helmet mechanically folded forward, covering his face. Noticing a Chrona clip for his pistol laying on the floor next to Anna's seat, Henry picked up the cylinder which emitted a glowing light green glow.

After slamming the clip into his pistol, the pistol now radiating a similar light green light down the barrel, Henry looked one last time at his wife's corpse…and proceeded to walk out of the Dropship…knowing full well that he was walking into his own death…


	2. Chapter 1: Battle of the Frozen Plains

**Chapter 1: Battle of The Frozen Plains**

**A/N: All of the main characters from the movie and the Riders/Defenders of Berk are present in this story, but have different names to fit the futuristic setting they are in. The list of characters whose names are changed is bellow:**

**Henry Haddock III: Hiccup**

**Trevor and Rebecca: Tuffnut and Ruffnut**

**Scott: Snotlout**

**Alex: Fishlegs**

**Just a quick update on who is who. **

**...**

_**73 Years Later**_

_**...**_

_In the year 230 NB, humanity's advancement had reached a satisfying point. By now even small cities were bustling with life. A monorail system was created that spread across different islands like Berk and connecting them across the sea to the mainland of Europe. _

_But humanity's most important advancement was in their Aero Tech. Jets became faster and much more maneuverable. The biggest colossal undertaking was the development of Artificial Intelligences being installed into Jets to help improve a pilot's performance in flight._

_Thus the creation of Project: Night Fury began, named after the fastest dragon in the world. When the Night Fury jet was created and it's AI installed, no one successfully mastered the advanced jet and it's AI...until a fourteen year old named Henry Haddock the third, descendent of Henry Haddock the first, stowed away into the jet after his father refused him access into the Flight Academy of Berk. During the Battle of Solitude, the young Haddock proved himself in aerial combat, mastering the Night Fury jet and bonding with the AI.  
_

_Now, seven years later, that same pilot leads an elite squadron on a mission that, unknown to them, will thrust them into a conflict bigger than they realize. _

_**...**_

The five jets sped through the thick grey clouds in the midnight sky. Each pilot protected from the cold arctic wind by the protective cockpit of their jets. The leading jet, a slick black jet considerably the less armored but agile in appearance, performed an upward maneuver and soon dove downward through the clouds, the four other jet's obediently followed their leader through a similar maneuver and dove downwards through the dark clouds.

The jets maintained their dive through the clouds. In the distance, the growing sound of explosions sounded off. Quick flashes of light followed the explosions, occasionally lighting up the dark surrounding.

Almost instantly, the five jets exited the cloud cover, and came upon a sight of their destination: The Battle of Frozen Plains.

Across the sky, jets soared passed one another, machine gun turrets gunning down the enemy fighter jets, missiles soaring towards their designated targets and causing their target's to become engulfed in a vast explosion of blue flames that ripped entire jets apart and sending the remains screaming to the snowy plains bellow.

Upon entering the battle, the five jets soared towards a line of incoming enemy jets. One of the jets, colored Emerald green with yellow markings across the jet as well as two cockpits with one pilot sitting in each, sped past their allies. The Jet soon released a sickly green gas, giving the jet a ghostly appearance as it sped towards the enemy. Upon reaching the enemy and as the smoke surrounded the jets, one of the jets attempted to fire machine guns at the jet, only for the bullet to miss, and unknowingly ignite the smoke, instantly creating a large explosion which engulfed the enemy fighters and left the emerald green jet unscathed.

The jet's companions flew through the smoke now turned grey, and joined their companions.

"Nice work you two," The pilot of the black jet called out over his com.

The pilot was twenty one years of age; he wore black armor which was the same color as his jet. His helmet completely covered his face, with a glowing green visor covering his eyes. On the right pauldron was a silver engraving of a Night Fury, the same legendary dragon his jet, The Night Fury: Gen-1, the only one of it's class, is based on.

"My idea!" A male voice said over the com, coming from the Zippleback: Mk-12, the same jet that had decimated the enemy jets. The Jet, due to it being able to be piloted by two people was a formidable jet, while one pilot could fly the jet, the other pilot could focus on the guns, or the two pilots could switch controls.

In this case, the jet was being piloted by two siblings, fraternal brother and sister. The rambunctious, and arguably insane, twins: Rebecca and Trevor Thorston.

"Well I ignited the gas!" Rebecca argued over the com with her brother.

The pilot of The Night Fury rolled his eyes in annoyance. As the squad entered the battle, the sight of three airships soon appeared through the clouds, The Red Deaths, the largest of the airships in the enemy Sky Fleet which were used for carrying enemy units, bombardment and serving as the main command center for the Skyfleet.

"They've got Red Deaths!" Another one of Henry's squad, Alex "Fishlegs" Ingerman the pilot of Gronckle-Titan Wing Gen II spoke over the team's com.

"Ignore the small fries," Henry ordered to the others. "You remember the details of the mission,"

The Night Fury pilot looked to the jet closest to him on his right, the dark brown jet which was, out of all of the team, the bulkiest and had the most guns on it although slower than the rest the Titan Wing Engines helped the Gronckle keep up with the others.

"Fishlegs, anyone who isn't a friendly gets within several yards, blow them out of the sky." Henry ordered to the Gronckle pilot. "Scott," Henry continued, talking to the pilot of the Monstrous Nightmare-Mk VIII, which the jet was perhaps the longest of the others in the team. "You and the twins join the battle."

"Glad I'm not going where you two are going," Scott "Snotlout" Jorgenson, Henry's cousin, replied. "Good luck!"

With that, the Zippleback and Nightmare jets separated from the team, joining the other pilots of the Alliance in the battle against the Forsworn Confederacy.

"Heather," Henry said, addressing the pilot of the Scauldron-Gen I jet flying to his left, a aqua blue jet which had several containers filled with scalding hot water and various machine guns on the main body of the jet. "You're with me."

"On it," Heather said on the opposite end of the channel, flying her jet close to Henry's so they were wing to wing.

The Night Fury, Scauldron and Gronckle jets sped through the mess of Jet fighters in the sky above the Icy plains bellow. The Gronckle unleashed a barrage of six missiles at a group of oncoming enemy jets, which blew up into a fiery explosion upon impact, obliterating the jets in fiery explosions. Whenever an enemy jet came to close to Henry and Heather, Alex opened fire on the enemies either with a machine gun turret or the missiles of his jet which tore up any enemies unfortunate enough to get caught in the way of the Gronckle's guns.

Growing closer to the Red Death's, Henry's attention turned to one specific dreadnaught, unlike the other two dreadnaughts that were colored red, one dreadnaught in the center of the three dreadnaughts was colored violet. No doubt the leading Dreadnaught and command post of Dagur the Deranged, the leader of Berserker Territories of the Forsworn Confederacy and also a bitter enemy of Berk, Henry and his squad's homeland. Dagur was ruthless but, as his name suggested, heavily mentally unstable which was his most lethal quality. You never know when the young leader would pull out his pistol, spin around and put a bullet into the skull of his own troops standing next to him.

Sadism, ruthlessness and insanity incarnate.

The only one who has ever outsmarted Dagur, was Henry himself, something the insane leader has not forgotten nor will he rest until Henry is dead...and a certain item in Henry's possession is crushed in the center of Dagur's bloody palms.

_::Henry! They're charging!:: _A voice on Henry's helmet comm spoke up.

Hiccup tapped one of the glowing green keys on his Jet's computer console in cockpit. After pressing a few keys, and hitting enter, a glowing emerald green holographic image appeared to the right of Hiccup's console. The image showed that of a dragon, a Night Fury, the jet's name sake and inspiration. Toothless, the Jet's AI, like the rest of the jets used by the Pilot's of Berk, was installed into the Night Fury jet as a way to improve performance for The Night Fury and to assist Hiccup. Each pilot was teamed up with an AI that worked well with their pilot's personality.

"Toothless, which jet and who're they aiming at?" Henry asked, retaining focus on the leading Red Death that he, Heather and Alex were vastly approaching.

Before the AI could answer, several port side turrets on the Red Death opened fired on the three pilots of Berk.

"Never mind!" Henry yelled as he and the others barreled out of the way of the oncoming artillery fire.

As the team barrel rolled out of the way of the artillery blasts, Alex's Gronckle jet got struck on the engine of the jet's left wing. The engine quickly caught fire and made a loud explosion. Henry looked to his best friend's, seeing the engine was now blazing and that even though the Gronckle was still in the air, the heavy bomber was having difficulty keeping altitude.

"Alex you alright?!" Henry yelled over the comm.

"I'm fine Henry," Alex responded. "Meatlug's having trouble keeping her in the air, but we're fine."

"Heather, have Spout douse the flames," Henry ordered to the pilot of the Scauldron Jet.

"No problem," Heather answered. "This should keep things from getting worse, but you'll have to leave and make repairs back on Berk."

"No!" Alex said. "The schematics..."

"Alex," Henry reprimanded while he unleashed a flurry of the Night Fury's "Plasma Bolts" from it's main turrets. "Now's not the time to be brave, as soon as Heather's finished taking out the flames, you're leaving. That's an order."

"..." Alex was silent for a long moment but answered. "Aye."

"Heather," Henry said.

The Aqua Green jet decreased enough speed so it flew behind it's Gronckle jet ally. A turret aimed for the Gronckle's damaged engine, once it had a clear enough aim shot, a stream of water sprayed the fiery engine, dousing the flames that threatened to keep the jet in the air. Once the flames were doused, Alex's jet broke formation, descending towards the ocean bellow, and flew forward in a quick burst of speed.

"Sorry Henry..." Alex said over the comm.

"Don't be Alex, just get back to Berk, Heather and I can handle it." Henry assured his long time friend.

With that, Alex's comm deactivated, confirming he was out of range.

"Toothless," Henry said, looking at his AI's Avatar. "Give me a read out."

_::Already done.:: _Toothless said cockily, giving a dragon smirk. Suddenly, Toothless' Avatar vanished, and was replaced with a emerald green glowing holographic representation of the Red Death Dreadnaught the team was looking for. Soon, several red dots appeared on the starboard side of the hologram. _::These marks represent hatches...if you're thinking about doing stupid...::_

"You know I will bud," Henry smirked from behind his helmet. "You ready for a skydive Heather?"

"Aren't I always?" Heather asked with amusement in her tone.

"Alright," Henry said, tapping a few keys on his panel as the two flew upwards. Soon a holographic screen appeared over the computer console saying in bold red letters **Auto-Pilot Engage.**

Soon Henry's seat buckles detached and his pilot seat began to mechanically shift so Henry was now "Facing the floor" of the jet. Taking a deep breath, Henry slowly fingered a green switch on the arm rest of his pilot's chair...eagerly waiting for his AI companion to give him the all clear. The sound of explosions could be heard getting louder as the Night Fury flew closer to the Dreadnaught. Near hits shook the entire jet, causing Henry to sweat lightly in nervousness. No doubt Heather was feeling the same way as she waited for her AI's, Spout, all clear.

Finally, after two long minutes, Toothless' voice rang through Henry's helmet.

_::We're on top of them! GO GO GO!:: _

With that, Henry slammed his fist on the switch. A mechanical female's voice suddenly said: _**Goodbye. Have a nice Drop.**_

Suddenly, the floor beneath Henry mechanically slid open, soon the pilot was now falling out of his jet, towards the Red Death Dreadnaught bellow. As he fell closer to the dreadnaught, Hiccup looked to his right to see a girl in full aqua green armor with a glowing blue visor completely covering her face looking right at Henry, it was Heather. Henry nodded to his second in command, who nodded in return. They quickly maneuvered so their feet were facing the oncoming dreadnaught haul. Soon concentrated flames spewed out from the bottom of their armor's boots and slowed down their descent as the two team mates landed on top of the Dreadnaught.

After landing Henry staggered briefly after landing second to Heather. Henry knelled briefly, momentarily clutching his left boot and groaning over his comm.

"Henry!" Heather yelled, carefully making her way to her first in command. "You alright?" She asked, kneeling next to Henry with a hand over his left shoulder.

Henry nodded, looking up at Heather.

"I'm fine...leg just bothered me..." Henry said reassuringly.

Although Henry guessed Heather was still concerned, he saw her nod and help him stand up. When Henry was on his feet, both teammates quickly held up their left wrists, blue holographic panels appearing over their gauntlets. After entering a few commands, Henry heard a magnetic "Clamp" from the bottom of his boots, confirming his mag boots were activated, which would allow bot he and Heather to keep from falling over from rogue winds, which according to his helmet's HUD, confirmed the wind speeds would most likely reach the triple digits in only a couple minutes.

When their mag boots were activated, the two teammates nodded and slowly began their walk to the designated Hatch that Toothless had showed both of them.

To their luck, Heather and Henry hadn't landed to far from the hatch. Upon finding the metal hatch which read "Emergency Use Only" in bold red letters, Heather knelled down and held up her left wrist, suddenly a thin beam of white flames formed. Heather stabbed the beam into the hatch, and proceeded to cut it open. Once it had been completely cut loose, the hatch flew up into the air, the extreme wind speeds sending it into the sky. The two friends quickly jumped through the opening, and landed on the metal floor of one of the Dreadnaught's corridors. The sound of a Siren suddenly blared upon the two's landing. A bleep came from Henry's comm. Holding up his left gauntlet, Henry pressed a switch, activating the holographic projector on the palm of his gauntlet.

Toothless' Avatar appeared.

_::You just triggered the Alarm system...didn't you?::_

"Well hello to you to." Henry said sarcastically at his companion's comment_. _"Can you upload into the Dreadnaught's systems?"

_::Yes, but I'll need you to plug me into a security console to do so...and of course I'm dodging a bunch of volleys out here. In case you're wondering.:: _

"I'll get you to a security console, perhaps you could find out what the hell Dagur's fleet is so interested in...and to your last comment, is the infamous Night Fury AI getting tired?" Henry said, the last part of the comment as a joke.

Toothless gave a dragon like smirk.

_::My my, old friend, you underestimate me.:: _

There was a loud explosion that shook the entire Dreadnaught. Toothless gave a confident look, his smirk only grew.

_::I just blew up their long range transmitter.::  
_

"Well done," Henry said with a smirk.

With that, Toothless ended his transmission. Turning to Heather, Henry nodded and the two quickly made their way through the halls of the Dreadnaught.

...

_(Berk Airspace)  
_

_::We're getting closer to Berk you know...:: _Her Dragoness AI said.

The pilot of the Deadly Nadder Gen-2 said nothing to her AI companion, just focused on keeping her dark blue and yellow jet stable through thick turbulence and reaching her location.

_::Astrid...:: _The Deadly Nadder AI, Stormfly, said again this time slightly stern.

The woman in dark blue armor with yellow markings remained silent, her eyes looking passed her glowing blue visor, ignoring the images on her HUD...especially the one holographic photo of two sixteen year old's, one blond haired girl with blue eyes, being hugged by a smiling boy with auburn colored hair and emerald green eyes. In the background they were in a forest, both seemed happy with the others presence.

The pilot briefly closed her eyes, her failed attempt to ignore the photo finally getting to her. Slowly, the pilot reached for a golden necklace, a gold ring with a brilliant sapphire attached to the necklace chain.

_::You wanna talk about him?:: _Stormfly asked with genuine concern.

"Stormfly..." Astrid said, after being silent since the beginning of her flight from the Bog Burglar's home island. "It's been five years, I've long since moved passed **_him_**."

A yellow holographic image of Stormfly's Deadly Nadder dragon Avatar appeared over a holographic projector to the right of Astrid's controls.

_::You keep saying that...yet...:: _Stormfly began.

"Stormfly..." Astrid said, coldly. "Do not make me press mute."

Stormfly shook her head briefly...but nodded in understanding that she wanted to be left alone...especially on this subject.

The Deadly Nadder avatar vanished from the projector...and the AI remained silent for the rest of the flight.

For Astrid...it would be nice to return to Berk after four long years...but part of her hated the fact that she would be seeing _**his** _face again...

But for the sake of her home, Astrid decided to suck up her past feelings...and focus on the task at hand.

Thirty minutes until she would be reaching Berk's airspace...and when she would be returning home. _Her_ home...


End file.
